Yes, Chris, yes that was a Hondew plant. There are a lot of plants in this area sweetheart. Now pay attention to where you're going before you smack into another tree. "That isn't hard," she complained to the narrator. "There are lots of trees now."

Precisely.

Walking into Gneiss Town was an adventure within itself, what with the constant googly-eyed look every time she saw a leaf and the delighted ten-minute conversation about weather and the cute Seedot in that boy's arms she had with about every passerby she could get away with, Chris was more than sure that she had enough stories to blabber on the payphone until her money ran dry. She wouldn't though; she was kind of mad at her daddy. She kind of didn't want to be here. Sad to say however, she couldn't sit down in protest. Being stuck on the road would be no fun at all.

What? You think it would be fine? Then you sit on a spot of dirt for a long time when there were wild monsters roaming the area. Yeah didn't think so.

The town, at least to Chris, wasn't too big a deal. I mean, if you compared it to pictures of Lilycove she had gotten from passerby flower nerds, than no of course not. It was pretty cool. I mean, Rustboro didn't have a lab. Wish Taillow could see this... she commented in her head, grinning enthusiastically. Well, actually she wished Taillow was here. But he wasn't so she would have to find plenty of stories to entertain him.

"Hmm... what to do... go to the lab..." she singsonged dazedly like the happy little mad botanist-in-training she intended to be. "Wonder what I'm gonna get..." Honestly Chris hadn't thought too hard about this whole scenario. Not that she was given many options on the whole deal of being thrown onto a boat but... details. Hm... maybe she could get a Fire type... nah. Not right now. Maybe a water-type... she had always loved... what were they called? Spheal? Yes Spheal. She had caught a glimpse of someone from Verdanturf that used to frequent their shop with a Spheal. This place probably had no Spheal though. Sad face...

Oh well. Chris would just have to get the next best thing:... a Wingull.

The doors slid open as she drew closer to the large, bright lab. There were so many windows man... just. so. many. Maybe there were movies filmed here when they weren't studying Pokemon in an attempt to cure Poke-Cancer. She kind of wanted to ask but... at the sight of the strange man with the odd shirt, the question died in her throat. He looked... a bit of a mess actually. Very chill. Awesome.

"Are you..." he yawned. "Here for your starter?" The coffee cup in his hand sloshed lukewarm caffeine in the mug as he yawned.

"Uh... yeah?" Chris replied with one of those weird scratches of the head. Clearly they were both horribly confused. "I'm Chris. Chris Mare. Do these Pokemon come in Aprijuice?"

The guy stared at her for a moment. "What are you- you know what never mind. My name is Richard and I'm the professor here. Come on now... let's get you set up while I'm still awake." Chris followed, maneuvering bright red locks out of her face as she followed the sound of the sliding door.

An aide grabbed her, watching Richard amble away dazedly, apparently through the wrong door. "Sorry... let's let him go. Today has been rather strange... I'll set you up now. Here we go." She walked over to a table. "We have four different colors of P*DAs, which are like Pokedexes. They come with certain features so be sure to explore them. We have Jet black, Darumaka red, Turquoise, and Snake Green." Chris picked the Turquoise curiously, having little interest in green, black was lame, and what was a Darumaka?

The aide nodded in approval. "Good, good, now take this." He threw a backpack at her, almost like someone fired something out of a slingshot. Cara of course, caught it easily but she was just awesome so no duh. "Now... here you are." A tray of six Pokeballs was unceremoniously shoved in her face. "These would be the starters. No switches so choose wisely!"

Ookay. Chris stared at them intensely. "Which one of you can beat people up?" she asked the orbs, which just sat there obliviously. "Hmm... FINE!" The florist picked up a random one and cheered. "Whoever you are, we are buddies FOREVER!" She opened the ball and out popped...

A bulb.

Well to be honest it was actually an Oddish. Yay for Oddish! It blinked at her and tilted its head, well, body... "Odd?"